- Yes.
- No.
- As a techtree aircraft
- As a premium aircraft
- As a squadron aircraft
- As an event aircraft
- I said “No” in the first question.
- 4.3 (Same as the Yer-2 Ach-30B’s)
- 4.7 (0.3 higher then the Yer-2 Ach-30B’s)
- Other (Please explain in the comments).
- I said “No” in the first question.
Hello everyone! Today I’m going to suggest a prototype variant of the iconic Yermolayev Yer-2!
This is the Yermolayev Yer-2 MB-100, a Yer-2 with 2.200 hp engines!
A nice photo of the Yer-2 MB-100. Note just how huge the engine nacelles are to house the massive X shaped engines
Source: Уголок неба ¦ Ермолаев Ер-2
History
Spoiler
A side view photo of the Yer-2 MB-100
Source: Уголок неба ¦ Ермолаев Ер-2The Yer-2 MB-100 was born from the need to put more powerfull engines on the Yer-2. The Yer-2 MB-100 would come to life during 1943. Many different engines had already been tested on the Yer-2 at this point, ranging from 1.350 up to 1.500 hp (Just as a comparison, the original Klimov M-105 engines on the first Yer-2 produced 1.100 hp).
This is when people at the Dobrotvorskii plant decided to step it up… a bit. They decided to take the original Klimov M-105 engines, take it’s parts, and pretty much double it. They created the Dobrotvorskii MB-100, an X shaped engine (An engine with four banks of cylinders arranged in an X shape) that on it’s own generated 2.200 hp! In other words, a single engine that produced twice the horsepower a Klimov M-105 would!
55% of the parts used for the MB-100 were taken from the Klimov M-105, the remaining 45% were new parts used to complete the engine. Once the engine was finished and tested, it was time to put it on a Yer-2. This was no easy task, since these engines were enormous and required brand new engine nacelles to even fit to the aircraft. The awkward dimensions of the MB-100 ment that the nacelles around it was very bulky and not very aerodynamic.
The engines on the Yer-2 were planned to use specially designed VISh-70E propellers, but the plant making these propellors got destroyed, so other already available propellors had to be used. The 4.1 meter diameter AV-7F-18V propellors were fitted to the aircraft instead. The lack of the specially designed propellors meant that sadly the engines could not be used to their full potential.
In order to fit these big propellors the wings of the aircraft had to be made wider in order to not have the propellors strike the fuselage.The Yer-2 MB-100 took of for the first time on the 28th of August 1943. One of the first things noted was the extensive shaking the aircraft had. Work on the aircraft continued all the way till July 1944. During this time different propellors were also tested, like the VISh-24 and AV-9EL-116 propellors, but these performed worse then the original AV-7F-18V propellors.
Compared to the insane horsepower the engines created, the actual performance of the aircraft was not that amazing. Mind you that it still out performed every other Yer-2 variant except for the Yer-2 AM-37 (The fastest Yer-2 variant). The top speed at an altitude of 4.000 meters was 475 km/h, and at those speeds the engines consumed almost a ton of fuel per hour!
To give you an idea of how much this 475 km/h is, let’s compare it to some other engines the Yer-2 variants:
– Yer-2 M-105: 430 km/h
– Yer-2 Ach 30B: 415 km/h
– Yer-2 M-40F: 448 km/h
– Yer-2 AM-37: 519 km/hIn the end the MB-100 engine was simply to heavy and unreliable. By 1945 a Yer-2 fitted with supercharged MB-100F engines was also made. These engines produced around 3.200 horsepower. But this didn’t improve the performance enough to get the aircraft recommended for serial production.
Design
Spoiler
The Yermolayev Yer-2 MB-100 was a twin-engine, inverted gull-wing bomber. The aircraft was powered by two Dobrotvorskii MB-100 engines producting 2.200 hp each on takeoff.
The straight line speed at an altitude of 4.000 meters and at a weight of 13.000 kg, was 475km/h. Making it the second fastest Yer-2 ever made!
The main defensive gunner the Yer-2 MB-100 had was a 12,7 mm Berezin UBT machine gun mounted in a dorsal TAT-BT turret. This turret had excellent firing angles, this machine gun could even shoot downwards to the sides of the aircraft.
There were two more 12,7 mm Berezin UBT machine guns. One was mounted in the nose, on a NU mounting. And another was on a ventral LU-MV-2B mount. This ventral mount had a rounded cover around it to reduce drag.For the bombload of the Yer-2 MB-100 I’m not 100% certain, but since this variant uses the bigger wings I think it’s safe to say it’s got the same bombloads as the Yer-2 Ach-30B’s. FAB-100, FAB-250, FAB-500, FAB-1000 and FAB-2000 bombs are all part of it’s loadout, together with some armour piercing equivalents of those bombs, and some lesser known cluster bombs and smoke and chemical sprayers.
The total maximum bombload the Yer-2 MB-100 could carry ON PAPER was 7.000 kg. But in practice the aircraft should only carry around 3.000 kg. If you really wanted to push it then 5.000 kg could be possible if the aircraft was flying with only half of it’s fuel tanks full.
Ingame
Spoiler
Ever since I started playing War Thunder back in 2013, the Yer-2 has always been a weird favourite of mine. It’s looks and insane bombloads made it such a cool aircraft to me. Also back in those early days the Yer-2 had this godlike reputation of ending games on it’s own by bombing your airfield if you didn’t shoot it down in time.
This is why I want to see more Yer-2 variants ingame, and this Yer-2 MB-100 is simply insane! It’s one of the best versions of the Yer-2 we can have ingame. It’s got massive powerfull engines that, in real life, were unreliable. But reliability is not a thing in War Thunder, so the Yer-2 MB-100 would perform very well ingame. The Yer-2 MB-100 is pretty much a Yer-2 Ach-30B that can actually climb and perform well.
I think the Yer-2 MB-100 would be a nice premium plane to have ingame. I think it would sit at the same 4.3 BR as the Yer-2 Ach-30B’s. The Yer-2 MB-100 does not have the 20mm Dorsal gunner, but is does out perform them in climb rate and top speed.
But let me know what you think in the poll above!
Specifications
Spoiler
Crew: 4 (Pilot, Navigator/Bombardier, 2 x Gunners)
Length: 16,58 m
Wingspan: 23,08 m
Standard weight: ~13.000 kg
Powerplant: 2 x Dobrotvorskii MB-100 engines with three-bladed AV-7F-18V propellors
Performance of the Dobrotvorskii MB-100:
– Takeoff power: 2.200 hp
– Power at 4.000 m: 2.100 hp
Maximum straight line speed: 475 km/h at 4.000 meters and 13.000 kg weight
Armament
Guns:
1 × 12,7 mm Berezin UBT machine gun in a NU nose mount
1 × 12,7 mm Berezin UBT machine gun in a TAT-BT dorsal turret
1 × 12,7 mm Berezin UBT machine gun in a LU-MV-2B ventral mountBombs: (On paper 7.000 kg max | max in practice 5.000 kg | recommended 3.000 kg)
Internal bombbay:
– 20 x FAB-100 (HE bomb)
– 8 x FAB-250 (HE bomb)
– 4 x FAB-500 (HE bomb)
– 4 x ABP-240 (Cluster bomb used to carry small bombs up to 15kg inside, including incendiary mixture ampoules)External racks:
(Der-19-20 bomb racks)
– 3 x FAB-100 (HE bomb)
– 3 x FAB-250 (HE bomb)
– 3 x FAB-500 (HE bomb)
– 3 x FAB-1000 (HE bomb)
– 1 x FAB-2000 and 2 x FAB-1000 (HE bombs)
– 2 x FAB-2000 and 1 x FAB-1000 (HE bombs)
– 3 x BRAB-220 (AP bomb)
– 3 x BRAB-500 (AP bomb)
– 3 x BRAB-1000 (AP bomb)
– 3 x VAP-500 (Chemical tank used to lay smokescreens or spray toxic substances)
– 3 x UKhAP-500 (Chemical tank used to lay smokescreens or spray toxic substances)
A front view of the Yer-2 MB-100. Note the massive X shaped engines
Source: Уголок неба ¦ Ермолаев Ер-2
So there you have it! Please make sure to vote in the poll above, and let me know what you think of this crazy Yer-2 variant!
Sources
Spoiler
Russian sources:
- “Дальний бомбардировщик Ер-2. «Самолет несбывшихся надежд»” (Long-range bomber Yer-2. “Airplane of unfulfilled hopes”) book by Dmitry Khazanov and Alexander Medved
- Уголок неба ¦ Ермолаев Ер-2
- Дальний бомбардировщик Ер-2 (ДБ-240). - Российская авиация
English sources:
